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Monday, June 12, 2017

Great Lakes Rip Currents Killed More Than 100 People in Last 15 Years

Jonathan Belles
Published: June 10,2017
Rip
currents are a deadly danger for swimmers and water sports enthusiasts
in the ocean, but riptides have proven to be fatal along the shores of
the Great Lakes, too.
Each year, an average of 12 people are killed by currents and 25 more are rescued on the Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service.
More than 500 rip current and wave-related incidents have occurred since 2002 in the Great Lakes, of which were more than 130 resulted in fatalities.
The
area near Holland State Park along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan,
west of Grand Rapids, picks up more than one-fourth of the rap sheet
alone in rip current incidents across the Midwest.
Many of the incidents occurred near bigger cities like Cleveland, Ohio. Incidents were also elevated near Chicago, Marquette, Michigan, and Duluth, Minnesota. This is in part due to the higher number of visitors to those areas.

Rip current incidents from 2002-2016 by county. Incidents include rescues and deaths caused by rip currents. (National Weather Service)

(MORE: Scientists Outraged by New Threat to Great Lakes)
The pattern of most incidents happening near cities continues when only deaths are tallied up.
Berrien County, Michigan alone accounts for 21 deaths since 2002, likely with visitor traffic from nearby South Bend Indiana.

Number of rip current deaths caused by county, 2002-2016. (National Weather Service)

This
bullseye at the southeastern part of Lake Michigan occurs most likely
because of a combination of weather factors, as well as the fact that it
is a popular tourist destination.
Great Lakes rip currents are mainly caused by cold fronts, which reinforce onshore winds in western Michigan and push more water southward toward Chicago and South Bend, Indiana.
Higher
winds may also be produced by the combination of low-pressure and
high-pressure systems situations in close proximity to each other. When
pressure changes quickly from one place to the next, wind is produced,
and during the winter, these changes in pressure can become extreme over
the Great Lakes.
Wind from cold fronts and pressure gradients
push water ashore, and when water becomes trapped, it "rips" back out to
open water dragging anything in the water away from the shore.(MORE: 'Hurricane Huron': The Oddest Storm to Ever Hit the Great Lakes?)
Another
factor contributing to the danger is waves on the Great Lakes come in
closer together than ocean waves, making it harder to recover if you are
knocked down.

Most Problematic Lake

Rip currents cause the most incidents on Lake Michigan due to the layout of the only all-American great lake.
Winds blow predominately from west or northwest toward the eastern shores of Lake Michigan in Michigan and Indiana.
Rip
currents are most easily created when winds are directly onshore for a
given location, and this occurs in western Lower Michigan and
occasionally on Lake Erie, the eastern end of Lake Ontario and on the
Canadian side of Lake Huron.
In addition to favorable winds, Lake
Michigan also has the longest coastline of any of the Great Lakes in
America. The eastern shores of the lake also host numerous sandbars and break walls that assist in the creation of rip currents.

Number of current-related incidents by Great Lake. "Incidents" include both rescues and fatalities.(Great Lakes Current Incident Database)

Rip Current Safety Tips

When you feel like you are being pulled farther offshore while swimming, these few things can help you survive:

Remain calm; panicking will only make you tired.

Swim parallel to the shoreline. This will allow you to swim out of the current and to swim back toward shore

Swim away from sandbars and from piers. These often funnel water into narrow places and accelerate it

Of
course, the best way to stay safe is to avoid rip currents when
possible. Here are a few signs that can indicate the presence of
dangerous currents:

Sandy water or debris moving away from the beach.

A break, or gap in the incoming waves.

Wave heights that are greater than 3 feet. Chaotic wave action can hide other signs of rip currents.

MORE: Great Lakes Waterspouts

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